Mass pro-government rallies in Iran after protests

State television showed huge crowds of black-clad supporters gathering in the capital Tehran, second city Mashhad and elsewhere to mark the anniversary of the end of “the sedition” — the last major unrest that followed disputed elections in 2009. The pre-planned rallies came just after anti-government protests, which had spread from Mashhad on Thursday to numerous towns across the country. Initially aimed against high prices, the anti-government protests quickly turned against the Islamic regime as a whole.